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Lisa Woodward

What do you do at Mizuho?

My role at Mizuho is head of Operations for the London based securities business covering trade support, client onboarding, reference data, collateral management, settlements, cash management, asset servicing, agency lending services, control, network management and projects.

What are Mizuho’s culture and people like?

Mizuho has a very collaborative and creative culture, people and teams working closely together to solve issues quickly and effectively.

I have seen this in action in my first three months of working here, and it’s very tangible.

How is Mizuho different from other places?

Mizuho has a honest and open approach about it, where senior management is very approachable and hands-on, giving access to the decision makers at all levels which is very encouraging for the up and coming talent in the teams.

What is one thing you have learned while at Mizuho or in the industry?

Change is the only constant in Operations - nothing stands still for long.

Being able to challenge the status quo, always looking for opportunities for scale, bringing efficiency or enhancing control and evolving your own or your teams approach is critical in our ability to deliver to our internal and external clients.

What do you do for fun?

I love to travel with my family and enjoy visiting different countries – I have a seven year old daughter so this is a great age to experience different places, cultures and food with her.

What motivates you, what inspires you?

At the most basic level I enjoy fixing broken things.

That statement can be applied to teams, processes and / or systems and is often what an Operations manager finds themselves solving for.

The pulling apart, understanding and putting back together in a more efficient, controlled and scalable manner is what excites me in my day-to-day work.